Braving the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the farmers have exceeded the fixed cultivation target of the less irrigation water consuming Aush paddy crop during this off-season period in Rangpur agriculture region.Officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said the tender plants of Aush rice are growing fabulously amid favorable climatic conditions predicting a super bumper production of the short duration crop.
The farmers exceeded the fixed Aush rice farming target by 1.49 percent following distribution of special intensives and providing technical support to them and conducting massive motivational activities by the government.
The DAE has fixed a target of cultivating Aush rice on 59,675 heaters of land to produce over 1.83-lakh tonnes of clean rice (2.75-lakh tonnes of paddy) for the region this season.
“However, the farmers have brought 60,565 hectares of land under Aush rice cultivation, higher by 890 hectares or 1.49 percent than the fixed farming target,”
Additional Director of DAE for Rangpur region Agriculturist Muhammad Ali told BSS on Sunday.
Of them, farmers have cultivated the hybrid varieties of Aush rice on 12,603 hectares of land, high yielding varieties on 47,627 hectares and local varieties of Aush rice on 335 hectares of land.
“In the last year, the farmers achieved a record output of 1.48-lakh tonnes of clean Aush rice against 1.23-lakh tonnes in 2018 as cultivation of the crop continues increasing every year in the region,” Ali said.
Cultivation of Aush rice has already become popular during the off-season between May and mid-August without hampering Transplanted Aman (T-Aman) rice farming on the same land in the region.
“During this season, the government distributed special incentives in terms of Aush rice seed and fertilisers free of costs among 22,750 small and marginal farmers of the region,” he said.
Under the incentive package, every beneficiary farmer got 5 kg high yielding variety Aush rice seed, 20-kg Di-ammonium phosphate and 10-kg Murrieta of Potash fertilisers to cultivate Aush rice on one bigha of land.
The farmers are earning more profits by cultivating short duration Aush rice using unused seasonal rainwater during May, June and July at reduced costs as an additional crop on their land that remain fallow during the off-season.
Talking to BSS, farmers Manik Mian, Aiyub Ali, Mohsin Ali and Enamul Haque of different villages in Rangpur said they have cultivated Aush rice on more land this time after getting its super bumper production with fair price last year.
Talking to BSS, Agriculturist Dr Md Abdul Mazid, who got the Independence Award 2018 Medal in food security category in 2018, said Aush rice cultivation continues increasing following various pragmatic steps taken by the present government.
“After harvesting Aush rice by mid-August, the farmers will begin transplantation of Aman rice seedlings on the same land to further enhance rice output despite the present unprecedented situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Mazid added, reports BSS from Rangpur.
